


Sons of Light

by GemmaRose



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Brotherly Bonding, Canon: Fullmetal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shamballa, Concussions, Gen, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Injury, jailbreak, rockets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-02
Updated: 2018-03-10
Packaged: 2019-03-26 04:08:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13849773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: “Go up the stairs, they won’t look for us heading that way!”A change of direction in their escape route leads to one thing leads to another, and suddenly Edward is sneaking through Thule Society HQ with a giant goddamn dragon at his side.





	1. Chapter 1

“Which way?!” Al cried, the ring of his voice in the armour at once comfortingly familiar and intrinsically horrifying.

“Never mind, just run!” Ed shouted back, fingers digging into chinks in the armour that he knew better than the back of his own hand these days.

“This way?” Al asked, taking off down the hall. Ed jolted slightly with each clanking step, but his body pressed to Al’s backplate at least muffled the ringing somewhat.

“Any way that gets us away from the guards!” he threw his arm out to point down the hall ahead, and Al ran faster. Several random turns and one flight of stairs later, he released his grip on Al and dropped to the floor, landing silently. Or, well, near-silently under the clangs of Al slowing to a stop.

“Brother?” Al turned around, moving more quietly as he walked back over.

“C’mon, in here.” he grabbed a doorknob and turned it, opening the door to an empty room with windows along one wall and boxes stacked along the other two. “They’re gonna be expecting us to head down to get out of here, so nobody’ll think to check up here for a while.”

“Oh, good idea.” Al ducked his head slightly as he passed through the doorway, and Ed fumbled for a lock for a second before finding the latch under the knob. When he turned around, Al’s back was towards him.

“It’s so beautiful.” he murmured, approaching the windows that looked out over the forest between them and the city. “Brother, are we really inside the Gate?”

“On the other side, actually.” Ed crossed the room to stand at Al’s side, admiring the view for a scant second before looking up at the familiar helm and glowing red ‘eyes’ within. “But nevermind that.” he hesitated, the words catching on his tongue. Was he really willing to look this particular gift horse in the mouth? A second of deliberation proved yes, he certainly was. He had to know. “Is it really you, Al?” he asked, laying a hand on the armoured forearm.

“It’s me, brother.” Al smiled, a slight shift of posture and tone that Ed could’ve identified in his sleep.

“But, why are you just a soul in a suit of armour again?” he asked, fingers curling against the smooth metal.

“Again? What do you mean, again?” Al’s posture shifted towards a frown for a second, and Ed was about to step away when the helm turned away from him to look out the window again. “Oh, right...” Al’s shoulders slumped slightly. “Thanks to you, I took on the form of a suit of armour, didn’t I? I’m sorry, brother, but I don’t remember any of that.”

Ed’s stomach dropped. “You don’t remember?” he asked incredulously. How could Al have forgotten all of that? All their searching, their adventures, the things they’d seen and done in their travels. His little book of foods he wanted to eat once he had a body again, did that have no meaning anymore? Ed couldn’t wrap his mind around it, it just didn’t add up.

“Not since the day when we transmuted Mom.” Al admitted, looking down at his armoured hands on the windowsill. “When I came to, I had been taken by this woman named Rose, and we were in Central. She told me you sacrificed yourself to bring me back, but I believed that you were alive somewhere, brother, and that I was sure to get you back. Even if I had to reverse-engineer Dante’s soul-transference alchemy to do it.” Al smiled proudly, and Ed sagged in relief.

“Al...” he paused, and in lieu of sufficient words stepped in closer and wrapped his arms around his little brother’s metal shell. “I missed you.” he mumbled, hugging his brother tight.

“I missed you too.” Al whispered, hugging him more gently than before but still firm enough to be comforting. “Now we just have to figure out how those people opened the gate to send this armour to Amestris in the first place, so we can do it again and get you home.”

The happy warmth leached out of Ed immediately, and he pulled free of Al’s embrace. “They used Envy.” he said softly.

“Envy?”

“A homunculus, the first one Dante made.” he elaborated, remembering belatedly that Al wouldn’t know who the shapeshifter was if he’d lost all memories of his time as an armour-bound soul. “He got sucked through the Gate too, and wound up here in the form of a dragon.”

“A dragon?!” Al exclaimed, eyes shining brighter than before for a second before dimming. “Wait, what do you mean they used him?”

“They have him laid out in a circle around the array, still stuck with all the spears they used to capture him. However he’s involved, it’s not willingly.” he frowned, lifting a hand to his chin. Alchemy didn’t work in this world, and yet the Thule Society had been able to send those armoured soldiers to Amestris. He’d tried alchemy countless times in his first months here, both with and without a circle, and it had never worked. The only difference was Envy’s presence, so how did that change anything?

“Maybe...” he mused, a grin spreading on his face. Maybe, since homunculi were inherently alchemic beings, the Thule Society was using Envy’s energy to open the gate by force.

“We should save him.”

“What?!” Ed yelped. “Al, this is _Envy_ we’re talking about. The homunculus? The fucking nutjob who-”

“Who’s trapped here, same as you.” Al cut him off. “I know we fought the homunculi, but I don’t _remember_ it. So when you say there’s someone from our world, trapped and hurt and being used against his will?” Al drew himself up, the red light in his helmet glinting sharply. “I hear that there’s somebody in this building we have to save.”

Ed opened his mouth, shut it, opened it again. At length, he let out a heavy sigh and let his head hang forward. “I really hate you sometimes, you know that Al?”

“You hate that I’m right.” Al smirked, radiating smugness.

“Yeah, yeah.” Ed sighed, waving his brother’s words away. “If I was keeping track right, we’re not too far from the upper level of the array chamber right now.”

“Then let’s get going!” Al bounced on the balls of his feet, voice ringing in his empty armour, and Ed laughed.

“Yeah, let’s go save a homunculus.”

\---

Alphonse crept along behind Ed as silently as he could manage, which was pretty quiet now that he wasn’t running full-tilt. The stone walls and floor echoed every little noise back at them, though, and combined with the lack of guards it made him feel a little bit anxious. “Are you sure we’re headed the right way?” he asked in a whisper. Ed nodded sharply.

“Can’t you feel it?”

Al tilted his head slightly, then shook it. “My control of this body is pretty basic.” he admitted. “What does it feel like?”

“Like... an echo.” Ed replied slowly. “An echo of something pulling me towards it.”

“The Gate?” he guessed, and Ed nodded. It made sense, from the half-remembered fragments of what he saw that night. Ed had been through the Gate, and it wanted him back. He just hoped the two of them could find some way to get him home in one piece, and not covered in that creepy black stuff that had been all over the other suits of armour when they came out of the Gate on this side.

Ed slowed to a stop, and pressed his ear against a door. “Sounds clear.” he muttered, and Al tensed as Ed twisted the knob. There was a good chance the room on the other side was not, in fact, clear, and if that was the case he had to be ready to shield his idiot brother from gunfire.

Thankfully the door opened to an empty floor. Poking his head in, Al could see that the room was in fact a balcony, a narrow path stretching out along the wall to either side and a long, massive, scaly wall what came up to about his chest. A wall which was moving, ever so slightly, rising and falling like- like breaths. The wall was alive, it was breathing.

“C’mon, Al.” Ed gestured for him to follow, and Al carefully shut the door behind himself. The temptation to reach out and run his hand over the scales was immense, but he refrained. Mostly because the armour wouldn’t even be able to feel anything, but also because a worrying number of scales were sticking up at an unhealthy-looking angle. Logically, he knew that Envy had been an enemy of theirs. Mustang had filled him in on the homunculi, sharing as much information as he knew, but there had been gaping holes in the story. The thing which had jumped out at him though, when Edward clarified Envy was a homunculus, was the story of their first interaction.

Envy had saved Ed’s life, once. Carried him out of a collapsing building and made sure he and Second Lieutenant Ross knew to take him straight to a hospital instead of back to the hotel first, saving his life again. Setting the poor homunculus free was the least they could do to repay that debt.

“Well, well, well.” a voice, Envy’s voice, mused from ahead. Ed jumped and flailed for a second before pressing a finger to his lips.

“Shhhh!” he hissed, advancing forward again but this time in a crouch. “If anyone in the Thule Society realizes we’re here, all three of us are dead.”

Envy huffed, sending a ripple down his long scaly body. “What are you doing here, pipsqueak?” the homunculus asked, sounding almost bored. Al wondered how much longer it would take to get in view of the head.

“Easy.” Ed grinned, looking over his shoulder at Al with an expression that had smug satisfaction written all over it. “We’re saving your sorry ass.”

“As if I need saving by a shrimp like you.”

“If that’s the case, why haven’t you broken out yet?” Al asked, pitching his voice to sound as curious and faux-innocent as possible.

“Armour boy?” Envy sounded confused, and the great reptilian body stilled for a second. “Well, however you’re here, you should know that I _did_ escape under my own power.”

“And then they caught you again.” Al guessed, keeping his voice flat to make it sound like a statement. Envy growled softly, so he was probably right.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but don’t antagonize the dragon, Al.” Ed sighed. Al chuckled sheepishly.

“Sorry, brother.”

“And _you_.” Ed jabbed the dragon in the side. “Don’t make me regret this.”

“Now why would I do that?” Envy asked, and Al froze mid-stride at the sight of what could only be an enormous head turning to reveal one massive, purple, slit-pupiled eye.

“Do you want a list?” Ed asked drily. “I can make you a list later.”

“Har har.” Envy huffed as Ed stopped just shy of the dragon’s biting range. “Will it make you feel better if I promise not to kill you until we get out of here, pipsqueak?”

“How about not at all?” Al asked, crossing his arms as Ed knelt to examine something on the floor.

“I don’t remember you being this stupid, armour brat.” the dragon’s mouth didn’t quite move in time with his words, Al noticed as Envy turned his head back to rest alongside the end of his tail.

“Hey!” he uncrossed his arms, striding over to what he hoped was just beyond Envy’s biting radius. “I may not remember you, but I’m not an idiot.”

“Remember?” Envy frowned, a strange expression on his reptilian face.

“We’ll explain it later.” Ed said dismissively. “ _If_ we get out of here without you killing anybody.”

Envy snorted, but didn’t otherwise respond.

“Hey Al, look at this.” Ed said softly. Al moved over to his brother’s side, and carefully crouched to get a better look at what Edward was indicating. “I think this is how they’re holding him down.”

Al tilted his head, examining the assembly set in the floor. It was simple enough, a taut wire hooked to a loop, but... “It only goes under him.” he noted. “How would that hold him down?”

“By connecting to the spear on the other side.” Ed scowled. Al was grateful to see that whatever bad blood they’d had with this homunculus in the past, it wasn’t enough for Ed to be comfortable leaving him like this. “You go along that way, look for these things and snap them loose.” he gripped the loop tight in his prosthetic hand, and wrenched it off with a twist of his wrist. His other hand he pointed towards Envy’s tail, and Al nodded.

“Meet at the midpoint?”

“Yeah.” Ed nodded back, standing and dusting off the knees of his pants. “Hey Envy, when I pat your side it means we’ve gotten all the spears loose. Don’t move until then, alright?”

Envy grumbled something unintelligible, and Al started off down the dragon’s tail. Or, would it be up the dragon’s tail, since he was headed against the grain of the scales? He knelt by the first wire assembly he noticed, and it snapped off effortlessly. Hopefully his soul would stay bound to this armour long enough for him to properly catch up with Ed after they got Envy out of here.

\---

Envy jerked from his half-doze at a light, brief, repeating pressure on his flank. After a moment of disorientation, he shifted experimentally. The spears still hurt almost as bad as going through the Gate, his body rearranging itself against his will under the oily black touch of whatever monsters lived in that lightless pit between worlds, but it was only almost. He was no longer tethered to the floor. Grinning wide, he tucked his clawed legs up and began to slither forwards. As forwards as one could get when going in a circle, at any rate.

The Elrics came into view, Edward looking just like that bastard Hohenheim with his hair pulled back in a high, thin ponytail and Alphonse slightly dented like he’d just come out of a fight with somebody in Greed’s weight class. Behind them, though, was what he really wanted. A double door taller than he was, already cracked open to show a sliver of the hall beyond. A sliver of _freedom_. He adjusted his trajectory accordingly, and stopped short when Edward stepped in front of him.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Edward asked, crossing his arms and giving Envy a _look_.

“To kill the bastards who did this to me.” he hissed, shifting so the spears in his side bristled. “Hess, Eckhart, and any other _insect_ who gets in my way. And once they’re gone...” he smiled, displaying all of his viciously sharp teeth. “I’ll track down Hohenheim and kill him too.”

“But then you’ll never find out why I don’t remember you.” Alphonse said, and Envy bit back a curse. It slipped out as a growl, and he fixed an eye on the Elrics. “The people who did this to you deserve to pay, yes, but you’re hurt. If you go after them now, you’ll only end up hurting yourself more, and then you’ll be caught and end up right back where you started.”

He growled properly this time, baring his teeth at the armoured Elric. “I’m more than capable of crushing a few insects.”

“Then why haven’t you crushed us?” Edward challenged. Envy snarled, wordless and bone-shakingly deep. “It’s because you’re conserving your energy, isn’t it? I bet you need every last bit of it just to keep moving with all those spears in you.”

The infuriating thing was, the pipsqueak was _right_. After being used to open the Gate twice in one day, he barely had the energy to move, let alone fight. “I hate you.”

“Yeah, I know.” Edward exhaled sharply, blowing his bangs up briefly. “Now do you wanna sit here and stew in it, or do you want to get out of here?”

Envy gritted his teeth, a growl rumbling in his chest somewhere below the human range of hearing. “Once I get Hohenheim, I’m going to kill you.” he stated, and moved forwards again. The spears were thankfully short enough, or buried deep enough, that they didn’t knock against the doorway as he passed through it.

“Fat chance.” Edward scoffed, trotting to keep pace with his head while the younger Elric trailed behind. “You can’t sneak up on me like that.” he jerked his head, indicating Envy’s massive draconic body.

Envy paused for a beat, staring incredulously at Edward. “I ambushed you.” he said slowly. “Have you forgotten already?”

“I didn’t even know you were _there_ , that doesn’t count!” Edward blustered. Envy snorted. Edward punched him on the side of the snout and sped up to take the lead. “Anyways, we should be quiet.” he murmured. “This place is full of those Thule creeps, and you can’t outrun them right now.”

Envy growled low again, and took satisfaction in the way Edward seemed to prickle from the small of his back up. “And what’s your plan for afterwards, Fullmetal?” he hissed, tail lashing and- they both winced as a hollow clang was followed by a tinny yelp.

“I’m okay!” Alphonse called, the armour ringing as he scrambled to his feet and put his head back on.

“We need to get down to the ground level.” Ed said softly, leading the way down the hall. “Front door’s out of the question, but there’s gotta be some other way out of here.” his voice dropped to a mutter, and Envy kept a wary eye on their surroundings as he followed the pipsqueak through the castle. Now that he was moving, the pain of the spears in his side was returning to a level that was difficult to ignore.

“Do you even have a plan beyond getting out of here?” he hissed, and Edward froze for a split second.

“Of course I do.” he lied, shoulders tensing. “But first we have to get out of here.”

He definitely didn’t have a plan. Envy grimaced, falling silent as he followed Edward through the halls. It had been sheer luck that he managed to find somewhere to hide last time, and he hadn’t been this _injured_ then. If he was running on anything less than hatred, spite, and sheer stubbornness he probably would’ve given up. It was the logical thing to do, if you thought about it.

Luckily, several hundred years of Dante had given him the practice to out-stubborn a mountain, so he kept pushing on after Edward. The runt abruptly held up a hand, and Envy only barely stopped before running him over. Edward’s prosthetic hand, not his characteristic automail but something else, landed on Envy’s nose. He wrinkled it, but only briefly before voices caught his attention. It sounded like there were a whole bunch of people through the doorway. The _open_ doorway. Fuck.

“Shit.” Ed cursed under his breath, his whole body gone tense. “Alright, those stairs over there should take us straight down to our exit.” he said, voice pitched low to keep from drawing attention. “If they notice us, be ready to book it.”

Envy bobbed his head, and watched with one eye as Edward beckoned his brother up to stand with them. He filled the armoured Elric in on the plan in the same hushed tones as before, and Alphonse somehow managed to radiate the feeling of a disapproving frown even through the unmoving metal of his helmet. “If our exit’s at the bottom of those stairs, we should make a break for it now.”

“You’re too loud when you run, Al.” Edward rebutted.

“I could-” he looked at Envy, and Envy growled a low note.

“No.”

“Sneaking it is, then.” Edward beamed and slapped a hand on Alphonse’s back. The ring of metal filled the air, and Envy froze as the conversation drifting out to them stopped dead.

“Brotherrrr.” Alphonse groaned, and Envy growled properly.

“You idiots!” he snapped, eyes narrowing at the Elrics briefly before snapping up to glare at the stupid uniformed nobody who’d stuck their head out of the room.

“Run for it!” Edward yelled, and Envy surged into motion with a roar that had the soldier ducking out of the hallway and away from his fangs. Bullets peppered his flank from the open doorway, pinging off his scales but not piercing them. Twisting to fit down the stairway was a painful affair, and as soon as the stone walls opened up he launched himself through the railing into the open air. A walkway between upper levels of the room helped slow his fall, but hitting the floor still hurt. These spears were starting to get really, _really_ annoying.

“Freeze!” someone shouted from the far end of the room, and Envy scowled at the ranks of soldiers between him and the massive doors. They looked too heavy to be easily broken through, and the soldiers were carrying much heavier looking guns than he’d expected.

“Make me.” he hissed, and charged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Art by [kitbits](http://kitbits.tumblr.com/post/171464279551/) on tumblr.


	2. Chapter 2

“Brother, what are those?” Al yelled as they scrambled down the stairs as fast as possible. Ed followed his brother’s pointing arm, and a grin spread across his face.

“Our way out!” he vaulted the railing and dropped the last few feet near vertically, landing in a roll. His prosthetic arm protested, but it was nothing he couldn’t fix later. Probably. It wasn’t broken beyond the point of functioning, so it didn’t matter just yet. What did matter was the number of guns going off on the other end of the room as Envy flailed about, and the bullets pinging off of Al’s armour as he stood between Ed and the staircase.

“I really, _really_ hope you know what you’re doing.” he said as Ed scanned the switchboard.

“When do I not?” he scoffed, grabbing what was probably the right switch and throwing it.

“Do you really want me to-”

“Shut up, Al!”

The test rocket rotated on the track, stopping automatically at 180° from its original position, and he gestured for Alphonse to give him cover as he set up the ignition sequence. “Hey, Thule bastards!” he yelled, spinning on his heel to face the room at large. “Wanna see a rocket test up close and personal?” he threw the final switch, and there was a low roar as the engines began to burn. The mooks scattered, and Edward bolted over to brace himself on the side of the fuselage.

“Envy!” he shouted as Al joined him, armoured hands gripping hard enough to dent the metal when they started moving. “Get on!”

Envy twisted to look at them, and Ed almost laughed at the look of pure shock on the homunculus’s face.

“I hope you know what you’re doing, Fullmetal.” he hissed, managing to coil around the front of the rocket as it approached him. What was it with people doubting his decisions today? They wouldn’t reach top speed before hitting the door, but they didn’t have to. They just had to get going fast enough, which shouldn’t be a problem.

“Brace!” he shouted as they neared the doors, still picking up speed. There wasn’t much to brace himself against, but he tightened his grip and pressed even closer to the fuselage as he squeezed his eyes shut. If this didn’t work, they were all royally screwed.

The impact nearly shook him free of the rocket, but his grip held. Opening his eyes, he sucked in a breath of cool, clean air and let out a whoop. Had his position been any less precarious, he probably would’ve punched an arm in the air. Alphonse and envy were less enthused, screaming in terror as they quickly began to drop towards the- very thick forest that surrounded the castle. Shit.

“I- Hate- You!” Envy roared as they hit the ground and began crashing through the undergrowth, words punctuated by lashes of his tail and impacts with big old trees. Ed squished himself as flat as possible to the fuselage, clinging on for dear life. Eventually, though, the rocket hit something hard enough to jarr him loose. He hit the ground rolling, and by some miracle managed not to roll into a tree before expending enough momentum to dig a hand into the dirt without breaking his fingers.

Once he’d finally skidded to a stop, he dropped his head to the ground with a groan and took brief stock of himself. His limbs felt battered and bruised where he had skin to bruise, and he was pretty sure fine motor control was out of the question for his prosthetics. Nothing felt broken, thankfully, but when he lifted his head everything seemed to spin, and he felt something warm trickle down just to the right of his eye.

“Brother?”

“‘m alive.” he grunted, lifting his left arm and waving it.

“Brother, where are you?”

Ed groaned, and pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. The world spun around him, and he wobbled when he lifted his arm again to wave it. “Here.” he called again, louder this time. _Damn_ his head hurt. He’d definitely hit it on something.

“There you are!” Al exclaimed, scooping him up by the underarms. Ed groaned, letting his prosthetic hang limp and cradling his head in his working hand. Now that he was upright the world was spinning even worse, and he swore that he could _hear_ the pain throbbing in his head.

“I think I’m concussed.” he groaned, leaning on Al as his brother guided him forwards.

“I think I would be too, if I was in my real body right now.” Al laughed, and Ed dropped his head against Al’s armour with a whine. All that suffering, all those lives, his exile to this cursed grey world, and he hadn’t even managed to bring his brother back _right_. Not only was Al still in the armour, he was missing memories. Hell, he didn’t even know who Envy was!

“What’s wrong with the pipsqueak?”

“He hit his head.” Al explained as Ed flipped the homunculus off with his working arm.

“Great.” Envy huffed, and Ed opened his eyes- when had he closed them?- at the warm gust of rancid air.

“Your breath smells like ass.” he complained.

“Funny, that’s what your face looks like.” Envy retorted, and Ed glared at the homunculus.

“Don’t make me regret saving your scaly ass.” he muttered, pushing off of Al and holding his good arm out for balance as he stumbled. Yeah, no, definitely concussed.

“We should get out of the rocket’s trail.” Al said, and Ed registered Envy grunting in agreement before they started moving again. Envy took point, leading them to what looked like a dry creek bed, as good a camouflage for his trail as any, but they didn’t get far down it before Envy stopped with a pained hiss and recoiled. Even with the world still spinning, Ed could see the problem.

“We need to get those spears out of you.” he said as assertively as he could, only stumbling a little as he shrugged off Al’s supporting arm and walked over to Envy’s flank.

“That’ll make the blood trail even more obvious, pipsqueak.” Envy hissed, tail lashing against the detritus on the forest floor. “I thought you Elrics were smart.”

“Hard to be more obvious than a giant dragon trail.” Al pointed out. “And if we get the spears out, you can-”

“I can what?” Envy sneered, twisting to look back at them. “ _Do_ tell.”

“You can heal, right?” even without a proper face, Al managed to look earnest. “I’ve read about homunculi, you can heal like humans can’t.”

“You think if I could heal myself I’d have let these stay in me as long as they have?” Envy spat, and Ed dropped his head against the homunculus’s flank.

“We can dress the wounds later.” he said as firmly as he could. “Al, can you-?”

“Already on it, brother.” Al sounded like he was grinning, and Ed sighed as he let his eyes slip shut. He couldn’t fall asleep, not just yet, but he _could_ rest his eyes for a moment. Rest his eyes, and let Alphonse handle Envy.

\---

Removing spears from a dragon turned out to be a lot harder than it sounded. They were sunk pretty deep, far enough Al was a little bit amazed they hadn’t pierced anything vital, and even with the armour’s superhuman strength it was a struggle to dislodge the weapons. His hands slipped from the shaft of the third spear, and he staggered back to fall on his ass.

“Isn’t there _anything_ you can do to help?” he snapped, huffing angrily at the draconic homunculus.

“You think I haven’t tried everything already?” Envy snapped back, baring his teeth in a snarl that probably would’ve sent most people running. Al had spent a year and a half with Izumi and Wrath, though, so he was no stranger to threats of bodily harm. “Let me spell it out for you, you armoured idiot. Those bastards in the castle drained every bit of alchemic energy out of me that they could get at. Without it, I can’t do _shit_.”

Al wished he had a face that could properly scowl, but settled for squinting at Envy for a few seconds before he turned back to the spear and gripped it again. “Can’t you just tap into the tectonic energy?” he asked waspishly, giving the spear a sharp tug that got it to slide out a little bit.

“It doesn’t work like that here, Al.” Ed sighed. Alphonse turned his head, and tilted it slightly at his brother in a silent question. “Alchemy doesn’t work here. The only reason those Thule bastards could open the gate to send armour through to Amestris, the only way _I_ could open it to bring you here, was by using Envy as a catalyst and a power source.”

“Looks like the pipsqueak remembered where he put his brain.” Envy jeered, and Al yanked on the spear again, a little more roughly than he strictly had to. The homunculus hissed in pain, and some deep, vicious part of Al was glad. Just because Envy needed their help didn’t mean he had carte blanche to act like a jackass about it.

“That’s five times now.” Ed grumbled, and Envy made a confused sound. “Once everything stops spinning, I’m going to make you eat each and every one of those comments about my height.”

Envy laughed, a rough and ugly sound, throwing his head back briefly before hissing in pain and slumping to the ground again. “You’re a real riot, short stuff.”

“Six.” Ed scowled, and Al sighed.

“Brother.” he chastised, and a smile flickered over Ed’s face. Somehow, it made him look even older than the pained exhaustion did. He didn’t like it.

“He’s more than got it coming.” Ed protested, and Al sighed again, this time more pointedly.

“If I said I could give you alchemic energy, would you be able to use it to heal?” he asked the homunculus softly.

“I’d change back to a normal body first, but yeah.” Envy snorted, obviously nonplussed. “Not like you could get even a red stone through the Gate, though, let alone a true philosopher’s stone.”

Alphonse nodded, adjusting his grip on the spear and planting one metal-booted foot on Envy’s scaly hide. From what he’d read, and what Wrath had told him when Izumi wasn’t listening, that added up with Envy having no energy left to heal or do whatever else it was he could do as an artificial human. His passage through the Gate had drained him of all but the barest minimum of his unnatural alchemic energy. “But I’m here by transmutation.” he said, gripping the shaft of the spear tight. “And I specialise in soul alchemy.”

“What are you getting at, Al?” Ed asked slowly, squinting at him suspiciously.

“I’m saying-” he hauled on the spear with a grunt, pulling it free and dropping it on the ground as Envy let out a low growl of pain. “That we probably haven’t got long before those people from the castle catch up to us, and if they find Envy then you’ll be in trouble too.” he turned to face Ed fully, and pressed a hand to the middle of his breastplate. “A fragment of my soul is being held in this armour by alchemy. Once the energy maintaining the array runs out, I’ll wake up back in Resembool.”

Ed visibly perked up at that, a smile spreading across his face. “Wake up? Like in your real body?”

“Yeah.” Al nodded. “If Envy can absorb the alchemic energy keeping me here, he can turn himself into something other than a dragon, and you can both get away safely.”

“I’m glad.” Ed said softly, some of the tension bleeding out of his frame. “As long as I know you’re alright, and Winry and Granny and Den...” he shook his head, that smile on his face again that made him look so much older. “I think I can live with being stuck here, as long as I know that.”

“Stuck?” Al frowned, or at least it felt like he did, and though he knew the armour couldn’t convey his facial expressions Ed seemed to understand anyways.

“They needed Envy as a second circle, remember?” he asked Al softly. “Without him, I can’t open the portal from this side.”

“Then we’ll find something else!” Al insisted. “I’m going back soon either way, I’ll find a way- _we’ll_ find a way to get you home, I promise.”

“Geez, hearing you say stuff like that makes me feel like a failure of an older brother.” Ed chuckled, rubbing at the back of his neck with his left hand. Al wondered just how broken his other arm was, how badly Winry would want to beat him for ruining her precious creation. “I’m supposed to be the one assuring you, not the other way ‘round.”

“As touching as all this is.” Envy drawled, drawing Al’s attention back to the topic at hand. “Are you sure you want to give up the rest of your time in this world?”

“Absolutely.” Alphonse smiled, knowing without being told that this was going to suck. He was basically letting Envy eat him alive, there was no way at all that it was going to be fun. “How can I make my energy best for you?”

“Just hold very, very still.” Envy growled, and Alphonse shut his eyes. Whatever happened next, he would find a way to get back here and bring Ed home.

\---

Envy sized up the suit of armour, recalling where the seal had been on the original one, and once he was certain of his action he lunged. His jaws fastened around the cuirass, and he bit down at hard as he could. His teeth pierced the metal almost easily, and he inhaled deeply even as shards pierced his gums. It wasn’t a stone, or even a raw soul, but after years of being denied even the smallest scrap of replenishment the stale alchemic energy was as delicious as his first ever philosopher’s stone had been. He released the armour, and focused on his form.

His body wanted to heal, to crackle away his precious energy mending the holes in his mouth and flank, but he clamped down on that instinct. He had to be smaller, his wounds would shrink proportionally and he could heal them better then. His skin rippled, itching terribly as his scales peeled off and disintegrated into dust. He gasped as the pain hit, and only centuries of practice kept him from howling in agony as his body began to shrink, his spine compacting in on itself and ribs slowly fusing until only the proper number remained. His limbs growing felt like pure agony, and he distantly heard Fullmetal yelling at him but it was all a blur past the pain.

It felt like an age passed before the pain did, and when he opened his eyes it took a minute to parse what he was seeing. The forest floor was moving, swaying past underneath him. Something hard pressed uncomfortably into his hip, and he realized he was being carried. He tried to squirm free, and promptly regretted it as he was unceremoniously dropped. Spikes of pain up his side and the taste of blood in his mouth evidenced the fact that Alphonse’s energy hadn’t been enough to both transform and heal him, and he pushed himself to sit upright with a groan.

“How long was I out of it?” he asked, gingerly pressing at the spots that hurt most. Someone, obviously Edward, there was nobody else around, had bandaged his chest with ragged-edged strips of what, from the colour, had probably started off as a shirt. Looking a bit further down, he noticed that he was wearing pants not dissimilar to Ed’s own, but in dark green with a slightly paler green scale design.

“Long enough for me to lose those Thule creeps and find the way back to town.” Ed grinned, crouching in front of Envy. “And that’s carrying your dumb ass, _with_ a concussion.” his hand rested on something at his side, and Envy’s eyes flicked down to see Alphonse’s helmet hanging from two of Edward’s belt loops. “Can you walk?” he asked, holding out a hand.

“Of course.” Envy scowled, reminding himself that this was Edward Elric, Hohenheim’s miserable spawn. He just needed the pipsqueak’s help while his side healed up, and then he’d be on his way. He pushed himself to his feet, and swayed slightly as black spots danced across his vision. That wasn’t good.

“Great, put this on.” Edward shucked off his long brown coat and held it out. Envy stared at the garment, then at Edward, and the alchemist sighed heavily. “Look, you’re going to attract attention if you go walking around like that.” he gestured at Envy’s chest, bare save for the bandages. “If you don’t want those Thule bastards to know where to start looking, you’ll put this on and stick to the script.”

“What script?” he asked contrarily, taking the coat and pulling it on. It was short in the arms, and didn’t hang quite as long on him as it had on Edward.

“Your name is Wilhelm, and if anyone starts getting nosy you act like a belligerent drunk. I can improv the rest.” Edward rattled off, using his good hand to fasten the uppermost buttons of the coat, concealing Envy’s collarbone.

“Because you’re _such_ a good actor.” he sneered, and Ed punched him in the side. Thankfully not the one with holes in it, but Envy suspected that was at least half because of which arm he was using.

“It’s late, and we just need to get back to my place without raising suspicion. I’ll make it work.” Edward insisted, grabbing Envy’s arm and dragging it over his shoulders. “Now c’mon, lean on me.”

“I can walk just fine.” Envy protested, but Edward’s grip was like iron around his wrist, dragging him forward out of the trees and into a small field.

“I could leave you here.” he said, low and pitched towards threatening. “Alone and undocumented in a city that hates outsiders, no money, nowhere to stay.”

“So why don’t you?” Envy asked, opting to play along with the charade for the time being. He must’ve lost a lot more blood than he thought, if he was too weak to even break free of a simple hold like this.

Unsurprisingly, Edward didn’t answer immediately. They meandered through quiet streets, the cool night air cutting through Envy’s bandages like they were nothing, and he did his best to take in their surroundings. Without shapeshifting he would have to rely on more mundane methods of concealment, which meant paying close attention. Not that there were many people out at this hour to pay attention to.

“If I didn’t help you, nobody else would.” Edward said softly, breaking the silence which had fallen between them. “And, Al was right. I may hate you, I hate what you’ve done and what you stand for, but even if I never forgive you...” he sighed heavily, adjusting his grip on Envy’s arm over his shoulder. “Nobody deserves what those Thule bastards were doing to you.”

Silence fell again after that, and Envy found himself too tired to think very hard on Edward’s words. By the time they reached what must’ve been Edward’s place, he didn’t even question when he was pointed at a bed. He collapsed on top of the sheets, and was asleep the second his head hit the pillow.


End file.
